Learning economics is different from learning other subjects, as anyone who tries to read an economics textbook soon finds out. And learning economics at university is different from learning economics at school, as anyone who sits through a university lecture soon finds out. Intense is the word that springs to mind when I try to describe the difference in style between school and university economics.

Lectures are intense compared with lessons because there are comparatively few of them; supervisions are intense compared with lessons because you go over a week’s work in a single hour; work is intense because terms are much shorter (the 8 weeks looming ahead of you may seem an eternity, but I promise that in 8 weeks time you will be wondering what happened to the time); and examinations are intense because you have to cram a year’s work into 5 three-hour papers taken in the space of a few days.

This resource is intended specifically for first-year economists; it was written for you. I hope that it will help you to make the most of your time at Cambridge.